Rick Santorum has “a chicken-and-the-egg problem” because Iowa conservatives enthused about his candidacy don’t think he has enough support to be viable, one of his backers said this morning.

“Everywhere I go, Santorum’s on everyone’s list,” said Chuck Laudner, a former Republican Party of Iowa executive director. “If everyone that said they like Santorum would come out and support him and organize for him, he wouldn’t be at 5 percent anymore.”

In a telephone interview this morning, Laudner said he has endorsed Santorum – but the candidate has had his support for months now. Laudner voted for Santorum at the Iowa straw poll on Aug. 13.

“Everybody’s waiting for the perfect timing and it’s not that kind of caucus this time around,” Laudner said. “I thought, ‘Let’s go and see if we can’t get the dominoes going, so to speak.”

In the Oct. 23-26 Iowa Poll, Santorum, a former U.S. senator from Pennsylvania, claimed 5 percent of the support from likely GOP caucusgoers, finishing near the bottom of the poll.

Laudner is a former chief of staff for U.S. Rep. Steve King, a Republican from western Iowa who is popular with conservatives. The pair traveled together to Texas this past weekend to the Herman Cain-Newt Gingrich debate, which King moderated.

Laudner said just because he’s with Santorum isn’t a hint that King is, too.

“Steve King has a unique spot not just in Iowa but across the country. His endorsement is unique and that’s his decision and he’s not ready to make an endorsement,” Laudner said. “I’ve been asked the ‘Who’s Steve King endorsing?’ question 20 times a day for six months and I don’t know any better today than I did six months ago.”

King has said if he endorses one of the GOP presidential candidates, he’s worried about how it could diminish the other candidates.

“He actually likes all these people and wants them to keep campaigning and talking about the issues,” Laudner said.

Santorum appeals to Iowa’s fiscal and social conservatives – and the large faction out there who is looking for an alternative to Mitt Romney, Laudner said.

Laudner said he wants to reward Santorum for campaigning in all 99 counties.

“He’s kind of doing it the right way, even if it is the old-fashioned way,” he said.

Laudner, who is well connected in conservative circles, now will fan out to persuade Iowans to caucus for Santorum.

“I imagine you’ll see me bouncing around in that pickup. Where ever there’s people gathered, I’ll be there,” he said.